


The Scent of a Woman

by Virareve



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2018-10-27 06:22:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10803555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Virareve/pseuds/Virareve
Summary: Ever since their days in high school, every year has ended on the same note. Erza just didn’t have time for love, Cana thought she could do without, Levy had yet to fall into it, Lucy just couldn’t seem to figure it out, and Juvia had yet to signify her existence to her longtime crush. Now it was the last year of university for many of them. Everyone was getting ready to go their separate ways and say their good byes. Until Lucy gets caught making out with one Natsu Dragneel in the coat closet at Cana's.Things, it seems, are about to change.





	1. Prologue

Cana’s parties could only be described in one word: **wild** .

Ever since Juvia has known Cana, the girl had always been fond of beer. But now, as the newly discovered daughter of _the_ world champion boxer Gildarts Clives, Cana was rolling in the dough. To see the complete one-eighty that her friend had gone though - balancing three jobs, going to school and spending time at the bar - to becoming an (albeit reluctant) media sensation was a marvel. Outside of school and her research lab, Cana's main hobby seemed to go beyond just getting drunk too. Which led to the here andnow, the last Saturday night before fall-term classes, and Cana was throwing the biggest school kick-off party that Juvia had ever been to.

Dear god, Juvia gulped looking around the crowded, stuffy living room. Cana Alberona was going to destroy not only her liver but everyone else's if she got her way.

“Juvia! Have you seen Lucy?” Levy shouted over the loud thumping music as she came up behind the college senior, pushing her way past a large group of chattering drunks. Levy’s face, Juvia noticed had a sheen of sweat from the combination of alcohol and the building heat in the house from all the party goers.

Juvia frowned. “No, Juvia actually hasn’t seen her since we got here. She ran off to say hi to Mira and then….”

“Who’s missing?” Came another voice from in front of them. Erza could still come across as sober by the way she had schooled her face into a serious expression, but Juvia, who was the designated driver for the night, caught the slight pink sheen dusting her face.

“Lucy,” Levy responded. She scanned the living room they were in, “I’ve been looking for her everywhere but there hasn’t been a single sign of her.”

“Hm,” Erza pursed her lips, “we should check on her, I know that we know most of these people, but it’s always good to make sure our friend is safe.”

“Juvia agrees.”

“But where do we even start?” asked Levy. “I checked all the rooms in this house and I looked outside and I couldn’t find a single sign of her.”

“Hey Cana!” Erza yelled, waving the hostess who was across the room over to her side.

They observed said woman stumble up, pushing people carelessly out of her way. She gave them her biggest smile, “Hey guys, can I get you all a bottle?”

“Not right now,” Erza said, “We can’t find Lucy and we were hoping you could help us out.”

Cana nodded. “Mira!”

And almost out of thin air, Cana’s co-hostess and sober counterpart appeared. With a gentle smile, Mirajane asked, “Is everything okay here? Has someone been giving you trouble?”

“No, but I can’t find Lucy,” Levy responded, her eyes getting more watery, “I looked everywhere and I’m worried something happened to her.”

“Ohhh, darling,” Mirajane cooed, wrapping an arm around the girl’s shoulder. “I’m sure there’s a much simpler answer. Perhaps if we all go to--”

They were interrupted by a shriek that caused everyone at the party to go quiet.

“What going on?!” Mirajane asked as she went around the corner into the hallway and towards the source of the shriek. Cana, seemingly magically sobered, marched after her to fulfill her hostess duties. The rest of them followed.

They heard Mirajane gasp and as soon as they stepped into the hallway they understood why.

On the floor of the hallway, seemingly fallen out of the closet, one very drunk Lucy was making out with an equally as drunk Natsu Dragneel, their longtime friend from high school and Lucy’s _best friend_.

“Would ya look at that,” Cana remarked, as everyone else at the party decided it wasn't worth their time and went back to their drinks.

Before anyone of the women could say anything, a large hulking man with several pierces along his nose and eyebrows marched up and pulled the couple up, one in each hand. He held the guy upright and shouted, “What the fuck Natsu! Why did you decide tonight to hoe around! You’re _supposed_ to be helping Wendy have a good time.” Beside him, a young girl, or young freshman more likely, still had an expression of shock written all over her face. Juvia assumed she must have been the source of the shriek they had just heard. The pink haired man being held in his friend’s grip mumbled something before collapsing against the wall. Piercings Dude sighed. The other hand holding Lucy upright let her go and she stumbled towards Levy.

“Levy!” She drunkenly smiled. She wrapped her arms loosely around her friend and let her head fall onto her friend’s shoulder. She wobbled a bit again before collapsing. Her dead weight caused Levy to stumble before she righted herself.

“Well, looks like someone had a good night,” Erza smirked. Lucy was definitely wasted and Juvia was already having second thoughts about taking all her roommates in her car.

“Is she going to be okay for the drive?” Juvia asked hesitantly,  concerned for the cleanliness of her car.

“Probably if she stays knocked out like this,” the older girl replied, “but we’ll bring bags to have ready in case she wakes up during the ride.” Erza began asking Mirajane and Cana about grocery bags to bring with them for the car ride home as Juvia zoned out. The three older girls walked off, presumably in search of grocery bags.

 _Well, then_. Juvia thought, noticing that while they’d all been looking at Lucy, Natsu had been slung over Piercings Dude’s shoulder like a potato sack and was speaking gibberish. “Fucking moron.” She heard the hulking guy mutter under his breath. “He couldn’t have picked another night to pull the moves?”

He looked down at the young woman who looked so small beside him, “C’mon Wendy, we better ditch this joint so we can drop this twerp in bed.”

“Of course,” Wendy, who’s name Juvia was sure of now, responded, looking much less shell-shocked. She smiled pleasantly. “Natsu may be one of my favorite cousins but he can be so dumb sometimes.” 

Piercings Dude snorted, “Which is why I am the favorite, right?” Wendy just grinned and made some remark about grabbing her purse while Piercings Dude tried to scuttle past Juvia and Levy in the hallway.

“ _Oof_.”

Juvia saw Levy fall backwards from the abrupt push she got when the large Piercings Dude tried to get around her,Lucy’s weight on her being no help in that moment. Quickly, Piercings Dude grabbed her shoulder so she didn’t fall too far back and Levy was able to get herself back up.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, “but sort of hard to get out of jam carrying this nitwit.”

Levy giggled, “Natsu does have the tendency to be a troublemaker.”

“Yeah, well it’s time to get this dumbass home before he pukes on me, I’ll catch you later…?”

“Levy, Levy McGarden,” the girl smiled. As she spoke, Lucy’s head ungracefully rolled to the side so the drool she was leaving on Levy’s arm was visible. “And goodnight to you...”

“Gageel Redfox, currently at my cousin's service.”

Levy giggled. “ Well, Gageel, good luck.” And Piercings Dude was on his way.

“Oh dear,” Erza exclaimed as she came back with a triple layered grocery bags, looking at Lucy’s sweaty, make-up messy, drooling face. “This is going to be a fun ride home.”

  
  
  



	2. The First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the first day of Fall Semester at the University of Magnolia!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Knowing that many schools have different schedules, I will be using the schedule I'm familiar with from my own university. That is, there will be a semester schedule with a Fall and Spring curriculum lasting for a few months and shorter winter and summer breaks where limited, expedited classes are offered. 
> 
> Also, I went into this with a vague idea of a plot, knowing I wanted this to follow the general expanse of a year, but also aware that this story seemed to be naturally falling into it's own character-driven/slice-of-life format. I do have an idea of what I want to do with each story line, and the overall plan in general but I thought it would be nice to inform readers of the intentions of my story. :)

“God fucking dammit,” Cana groaned as morning sunlight crept into her room. She clutched her head where a dull headache resided and closed her eyes before taking a breath. She looked to the left at her nightstand where Mira was so kind as to leave two glasses of water and a bottle of aspirin.

Wait. Two?

Cana saw a sticky note next to a glass and picked it up.

 _Thought you and Laxus might need the_ _pick me up for first day of classes.  
__And_ _don’t forget you’re teaching a class at 10!_  
-XOXO Mira :)

Laxus? Cana flipped her body around to see the body of her long-time never-quite-friend resting next to her on the bed. From what she could tell by what little was covered by her sheets, he was naked. And apparently, so was she.

“Fuck.” She panicked for a second and then recalled the rest of Mira’s message. Crap, she was TA-ing a class at 10:00. And her clock said it was 8:43. Cana stood up from bed yanking the sheet from Laxus and wrapping it around herself. He groaned slightly but didn’t seem to be disturbed from his slumber.

“Laxus!”  Still no response. Groaning, she walked around the bed until she got to his side. She said a prayer to whatever deity it was that decided to screw her over and landed a straight punch to her one-night stands stomach.

“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!” Laxus immediately shot up and glared when he saw her staring at him. “What the hell is wrong with you woman?

Holding up her blanket sheet dress in one hand, she placed another hand on her hip. “I’ve gotta leave in a bit. I want you out of my house before I leave so grab your clothes and get the hell outta my place.”

She swore she she heard him mutter “Devil woman.” But she didn’t really care. At this point, she just needed to get the notorious sex god with a shit attitude out of her home.

She probably needed to quash the little fluttering reminder of the crush she harbored on him as a girl, while she was at it, too. This was not the time.

The fact of the matter was that they’d had sex. If their nakedness, wasn’t enough, the ripped condom wrappers on the floor pretty much spelled it out for her. And even if she wasn’t quite clear what went down when she went to the bar last night or when she’d even run into Laxus-fucking-Dreyar of all people. Cana didn’t really give a damn. This wasn’t the first time. It certainly wouldn’t be the last. Sure there were probably some daddy issues mixed up in her shit , but that was then. And she really needed to deal with the now. Unless she wanted to deal with the repercussions from her department for being late.

She saw some of his clothes around the room and threw them at him. He grouched at her, but obediently put them back on. She figured he had shit to do anyways and word on the street didn’t exactly peg for him for a relationship type guy. He’d probably get his ass of here soon enough.

In the meantime, she grabbed her phone, found the typical dozen or so goodnight/good morning texts from Gildarts, ignored them, grabbed some clothes from the closet, and stepped in the bathroom.

It was time to get ready for the day.

* * *

 

“Yo, did you hear about Heartfilia and Dragneel?”

“Yeah, man. Were you there?”

“Dude, they were totally goin’ at it in the closet!”

Even from her perch at the highest row of the ice rink, Juvia could tell that University of Magnolia’s hockey star, Gray Fullbuster, had had enough of his teammates’ prying questions and revealing comments by the end of their usual hockey practice.

“Guys. Shut. Up.”

All it took was one denouncement from him and the hockey team went silent. They sauntered off towards the locker room while Gray did a clean sweep of the ice rink to make sure that there wasn’t anything that they had forgotten

The rink was quiet but, still, Gray had a nagging feeling that he was being watched. Just as he had for almost every hockey practice he’d had for the last two years. His team, the coaches and the assistants were all gone, and when he looked up he didn’t a single person. He figured he was being paranoid. _Fucking Natsu insisting on the Shining_. Gray turned back around, walking off the rink and shutting the gate behind him.

From her highest spot in the bleachers, Juvia let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness he hadn’t seen her. She silently thanked whoever it was in the school who decided to splurge and get the perforated banners to display all their sports titles. With a whole slew of them surrounding the top of the rink, it meant that she could look through them and see the players below, but the players below couldn’t see her. Just as she’d done since she started attending UM. Just as she’d done when she’d transferred to Magnolia High School.

Juvia continued to keep an eye on her longtime crush. Gray was almost gone which meant she still had a lot of time to make her leave and get to-

_RING! RING! RING!_

Juvia cursed. Nevermind, she was late.  All the notebooks and math proofs she’d been working on for homework flew around her while she leapt into her backpack to turn off her phone.

 _Swim Practice_ read the reminder on her phone screen. She quickly shut off the alarm and scrambled to grab all the homework that had fallen to her feet.

“Who’s there!” a familiar voice yelled. Juvia blanched. _Gray_. “These facilities are for managerial staff and athletes only!” She could hear his skates clunking against the hard floor as he made his way around the rink. “Show yourself!”

She shoved her schoolwork into her bag and shoved it onto her shoulder. She could hear him getting closer. Her pulse was started to race with her nervousness. Sliding on a pair of sunglasses and shoving her hair under a baseball cap, she slung on her backpack and started running.

“Hey!” He’d seen her. Oh no. He’d finally seen her.

But Juvia had the lead and she kept running, she could hear him shouting after her as she burst through doors leading her further into the stadium but kept making twists and turns until she reached a familiar hall. She’d stopped hearing Gray’s shouts since she entered the maze of the stadium’s managerial offices that were set aside for all the directors that used this facility. She kept walking until she reached a part that she knew was a different part of the sports complex set aside for student athletes. She pulled out her student ID card and slid it in a electronic slot next to the door handle, waiting for the light near the handle to turn green. She hurried into the locker room. She started undressing as she walked up to her locker, sighing in relief that she wasn’t caught by Gray and relieved she’d made it in time. Until a very familiar voice came from behind.

“You’ve got two minutes or you’ll be late.”

Juvia flinched and turned around face-to-face with UM’s swim team’s head coach and ten-time Olympic Gold Medalist, Aquarius Petrova, while trying to simultaneously yank her swim cap on at the swim time.

“Sorry, Coach Petrova,  Juvia will be out there in sec.”

“You better,” her coach nearly growled on her way out the door towards the pool. “Otherwise you’re going to be dealing with a really pissed off me when I have to stay after practice to make you do more laps.”

Juvia gulped. “Got it.”

She was pulling her goggles off the hook in her locker when the head coach stuck her head in the room one more time, “Oh and Juvia?”

“Yes?” she squeaked.

“I’m expecting you to be the much more ready at the Olympics.” The door slammed behind her as Juvia yanked it open seconds later to start warm-ups with her team.

* * *

 

It was fairly quiet when Aries departed from her plane. With only her small purse and carry-on sized rolling suitcase, one wouldn’t realize that she’d been traveling for a year. But Aries Trosclair, heiress of clothing conglomerate Trosclair Inc., member of one of the twelve wealthiest families in Fiore, and somewhere around the fiftieth in the line of succession to the throne of Sweden (a matter which her parents prided themselves), was a simple woman. She never wanted much despite her rather posh upbringing. Even now, she dressed simply in flats, linen pants, and a sweater. To give greater understanding to the type of woman Aries was she cooked simple, healthy foods for herself at home. Her favorite hobby was playing the piano. And she quite enjoyed the simple pleasures of cleaning and reading books. In addition, though she was heiress to the Trosclair fortune, she had not relied on any of her parents’ money since she left home after finishing college five years prior.

As a former child piano prodigy who had grown into a world-renowned pianist, she independently earned a considerable amount. Not enough to put her anywhere in the ranks of which her family resided, but enough that she could afford an apartment easily in a nice part of town and never have to worry about paying bills or maintaining a food budget. Aries was still a fairly frugal spender by nature so her royalties from her debut and follow-up albums and the money she’d attained on tour would place her as probably one of the wealthiest twenty-six year olds in Fiore, not including the money and business she would one day inherit in the future.

With all that in mind, Aries had happily accepted a position as a part time teacher at the University of Magnolia’s School of Music. Considering UM was her alma mater, it would be nice to be back in the wonderful coastal city. Though she was not as familiar with the workings of the Croft-Sullivan School of Music as she was in the Cheslyn School of Business, where she had double-majored in business management and economics, she had done a concert or two for the university, and she had been introduced to many of the faculty then. Aries considered herself a good judge of character. Therefore, she did not foresee any emotional problems arising in the workplace if she accepted the job from the school, based on her experiences with the faculty. In addition, it would be a great opportunity for her to work on writing more music for her next album and rest from all the traveling she’d done for the past years. For the first time, since she’d graduated, she would be able to settle down and build some roots. No more one or two month stays in her parents’ home in Crocus between tours. She’d have a chance to call a place home that was all hers. And truly, she was happy. She was excited. Life couldn’t seem more perfect.

“Aries!” but one thing, in spite of all she accomplished , she considered a flaw on her part was that she was meek. “Aries!” the voice went again. She could hear it from the bottom of the escalator she was about to descend. She called out in return but couldn’t even hear herself over the airport loudspeakers going on repeat with travel safety messages.

She landed on the 1st floor of the airport, where the few other travelers who had traveled with her on the last flight of the night dispersed to meet their families, seek out a taxi, or find their car. She looked around the airport and found her childhood friend, Loke Leon, waving to her. She gave him a soft wave while he bounded over and scooped her up in hug. “Hey little lamb,” he greeted her softly.

She giggled. “Stop calling me that and put me down.”

“Nope!” he answered, effortlessly, holding her against his body with one arm while grabbing her suitcase and dragging it with the other.

The few people still at the airport stared curiously at the pair. Aries’ face felt hot.

“Loke,” she squeaked, “Everyone is looking this way.”

“So,” he snorted, “It’ll provide entertainment.” Aries huffed. Embarrassed that everyone would see her, after she’d made some effort to look presentable, looking like a ragdoll in her friend's arms.

She wriggled a bit until Loke let her down just outside the door.

“You eating on your tours, _ram_ -bo?” he joked as he led her in the direction of his car. “You feel a lot lighter than I remember you being.”

She shrugged. “I do yoga?”

Loke snorted, “Unless you're doing it 4 hours a day which I _know_ you’re not, looks like I’m gonna have to put some weight on you while you're here.”

Aries stopped in her tracks in a sudden realization. Noticing her, her friend stopped. “Everything okay, wooly mammoth?”

Aries bounded over and jumped on him in a hug. “Are you living in Magnolia? You didn’t tell me that!”

Loke laughed, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Ooops. Dad put me in charge of our Magnolia location. So I’ll be here for awhile. Thought I’d mentioned that already.”

She swatted him in the arm. “No you didn’t! If I’d known I’d have offered to pay for your food, until I find my own apartment. In fact I better not catch you paying for any meals until I leave your home.”

Loke  waved a hand casually as they entered the parking structure adjacent to their airport and waited on  the elevator. “Don’t sweat it.” There as a ding from an approaching elevator and the two of them entered it soon after. Loke punched in the floor number and continued talking. “By the way I mean to mention. Instead of finding your own place, would you be interested in staying at my place? I have two empty bedrooms and you're welcome to take one.”

“You want me to live with you?” she squeaked.

The elevator door opened at that moment. “Well think about it,” he answered while leading her in the direction of his car, “I thought about it because your parents did ask me to keep a watch on you in case you ever needed help and it got me on thinking. If we live together, you’ll always have a friend nearby, and if you’re really worried about taking advantage of me, which I know you’re thinking right now, I’ll charge you rent, not that it makes a difference to me. And it’s close to the university.”

“I don’t know if my parents would be okay with that,” she said honestly.

Loke snorted. “C’mon Aries. Your twenty-six and make your own money, you don’t even leech off your family’s company like I do. If you want your own place, that’s up to you, you’re an adult.”

She was quiet for the remainder of the walk. They got to his car, a subtly designed but extremely expensive sports car that was iconically Loke’s style. She smiled when she saw it. Loke opened the door for her and she stepped in. Once he started driving, she decided to ask the important questions.

“So if I live with you….” she started, a small impish smile growing on her face.

“What about it?”

“Are you just as much a manwhore as when we were in undergrad?”

“Why you!” Aries was giggling as Loke reached one hand over and started tickling her mercilessly.”

“Stop.” She gasped out between laughs. “Loke!”

He pulled his hand back and smirked. “Only Friday’s and Saturday’s now, wooly mammoth. I gotta be a big boy now remember?”

“Sure,” she snickered. Loke turned up the radio to some soft rock station and Aries snuggled into her seat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up Next:
> 
> The Universe hates Levy, Lucy is avoiding Natsu, and Erza runs across a familiar face when a new post-doc joins her research lab.


End file.
